{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2024/8/issues/national-security/blackburn-op-ed-why-is-iran-at-the-olympics", "Blackburn Op-Ed: Why Is Iran At The Olympics?", "2024-08-09", "2024", "2024-08", "Republican", "Senate", "TN", "Marsha Blackburn", "B001243", "www.blackburn.senate.gov", "blackburn", "https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/news/cc8c80c1-d564-4bbb-93a4-f1d772346ae0", "scraper", "NASHVILLE, Tenn. \u2013 U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) wrote the following op-ed in OutKick questioning why Iran \u2013 a country plotting to assassinate President Donald Trump \u2013 is allowed to compete in the Olympic Games, which celebrate international unity, cooperation, and peace.\n\nWhy Is Iran At The Olympics?\n\nSenator Marsha Blackburn\n\nOutKick\n\nShould a country enjoy the honor of participating in the Olympic Games \u2014 long defined by its aspirations of fostering international unity, cooperation, and peace \u2014 while plotting the assassination of a former U.S. president?\n\nAs more than three dozen athletes carried the banner of the Islamic Republic of Iran on Friday during the Opening Ceremony of the Paris Summer Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) made its answer clear: Absolutely.\n\nWhile Iran\u2019s athletes have been practicing to compete in everything from archery and canoeing to weightlifting and wrestling, the authoritarian regime has been busy with a much more vile effort: conspiring to murder former President Donald Trump, a revelation from U.S. authorities that came just days after the failed assassination attempt on the president in Butler, Pennsylvania.\n\nWhile deeply troubling, the Iranian plot, which the regime so far denies, should come as no surprise. For years, the world\u2019s largest state sponsor of terrorism has plotted assassinations against senior Trump administration officials, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton, resulting in federal charges against a member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.\n\nIOC allows Iran to participate in Olympics", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:36:13Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2024/8/issues/national-security/blackburn-op-ed-why-is-iran-at-the-olympics"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1292379349470139, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}